Gujarat health department starts probing typhoid spread

Gandhinagar, March 17 (IANS) Gujarat’s state health department Tuesday began investigating the causes behind the rising number of typhoid cases among children in the villages of Bavla, Kherala and Bhayla on the outskirts of Ahmedabad over the past five days. “There have been reports of about 127 cases of typhoid detected in the three villages. A total of 93 children aged 5 to 15 years so far have been admitted to Sola civil hospital in Ahmedabad for treatment during the past five days.

“The rest of the cases are being treated at the primary health centres of the villages. The number of typhoid cases in the three villages rose gradually during the past five days, which made us wait and watch to analyse the situation before acting to prevent more cases from reaching hospitals,” a senior health department official told IANS.

He said the exact reasons for the rise in the number of typhoid cases would be known during the coming days but it was clear that the water children used was contaminated.

“The drinking water samples from all the three villages have been collected and the laboratory reports are expected within the next three days,” he said.

The health officials who visited the three villages when the first few cases emerged in Bavla village have reported that the villagers caused breaches in the Narmada water pipeline to draw drinking water, which might have led to typhoid. However, the exact reason for the contamination is still not known, the official added.